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ARC Review: Emmy & Oliver

Emmy’s best
friend, Oliver, reappears after being kidnapped by his father ten years
ago. Emmy hopes to pick up their relationship right where it left off.
Are they destined to be together? Or has fate irreparably driven them
apart?

Emmy just wants to be in charge of her own life.

She
wants to stay out late, surf her favorite beach—go anywhere without her
parents’ relentless worrying. But Emmy’s parents can’t seem to let her
grow up—not since the day Oliver disappeared.

Oliver needs a moment to figure out his heart.

He’d
thought, all these years, that his dad was the good guy. He never knew
that it was his father who kidnapped him and kept him on the run.
Discovering it, and finding himself returned to his old hometown, all at
once, has his heart racing and his thoughts swirling.

Emmy and
Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before
their futures were ripped apart. In Emmy’s soul, despite the space and
time between them, their connection has never been severed. But is their
story still written in the stars? Or are their hearts like the pieces
of two different puzzles—impossible to fit together?

Readers who
love Sarah Dessen will tear through these pages with hearts in throats
as Emmy and Oliver struggle to face the messy, confusing consequences of
Oliver’s father’s crime. Full of romance, coming-of-age emotion, and
heartache, these two equally compelling characters create an
unforgettable story.

Ooooooh, my heart. Emmy & Oliver was such a cute book that
made me hurt in all the best ways. You may have noticed, but I don't
read a whole lot of contemporary. No particular reason, but a lot of the
stuff I see either seems really superficial or way too hardcore and
depressing for me. And the stuff that interests me, I just never get
around to because I get distracted. But I couldn't wait to get into this
one, and when I did, I finished it all in one go. (Besides a half
interlude for a shower, because sometimes we need to do that.)

Emmy
and Oliver have been best friends and neighbors since birth. Until, of
course, Oliver's father takes him - and doesn't come back. And suddenly
Emmy is without a best friend, her parents turn into momzilla and
dadzilla, and his mother is left in a constant state of frenzy and
tears. Fast forward to Emmy's last year and high school, and Oliver
reappears - only now, his mom has remarried, he was two siblings, and
he's stuck a year behind in school. He's spent his life thinking his mom
was the bad guy, but now he's being told that the man who raised him
and took care of him was lying the entire time. It was heartbreaking.

"After
a while, though, after years passed and pictures changed and false tips
fell through, it started to feel like the beacon wasn't for him
anymore. It was for those of us left behind, something to cling to when
you realized that scary things could happen, that villains didn't only
exist in books, that Oliver might never come home. Until one day, he
did."

Thankfully,
not heartbreaking in the way that left me a snotty and sobbing mess.
I'm personally not one of those people who loves to read books that make
me feel miserable. But Emmy & Oliver tugged at my heart in all the right ways.

Emmy
has lived the past ten years abiding by her parent's rules while
surfing in secret. She worries about college and her parents discovering
her secret (and all the lying she's been doing) and even freaks out a
little when she simply makes a silly face at Oliver when she finally
sees him again. I found Emmy so relatable and such a lovely narrator. And the addition of her surfing was so well done. You could really feel how important it was to her. (And to be honest, when characters don't have some kind of hobby I don't know what to do with myself.)

And
of course, I couldn't help but feel for Oliver, being thrown into this
completely unfamiliar life that was supposed to be his all along. He
felt like such a real character. Benway really knows how to write teenagers and get you invested in them.

Faye described Emmy & Oliver as
quiet and peaceful, and I completely agree. Sure, it gets sad. But not
that bone aching sad that usually makes me stop reading because I'm too
depressed. Emmy & Oliver portrays these teenagers lives so
accurately, and it's focused on friendships and relationships and how
Oliver's kidnapping impacted so many other people. On how Oliver himself
needs to heal, too. There's no silly little misunderstandings that
leave them distraught for half the book while we all roll our eyes. I
was rooting for both of these characters - both separately and together -
the entire time.

The relationship and romance between
Emmy and Oliver was adorable, plain and simple. I want to squeeze them
in the tightest hug ever. They're both so supportive of each other, and
Emmy really tries to understand the position Oliver is in (and of
course, she struggles with it).

Overall: As usual, I feel like I failed to get my point across. Emmy & Oliver is
cute and fluffy while still being filled with more grounded and
relatable moments. This is a must-read for contemporary fans and even
for those of us who are more fantasy prone. I think it has a very
important overall message: it's okay to feel what you feel. Life is
effed up, and that's okay. 4.5 stars.

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6.01.2015

ARC Review: Emmy & Oliver

Emmy’s best
friend, Oliver, reappears after being kidnapped by his father ten years
ago. Emmy hopes to pick up their relationship right where it left off.
Are they destined to be together? Or has fate irreparably driven them
apart?

Emmy just wants to be in charge of her own life.

She
wants to stay out late, surf her favorite beach—go anywhere without her
parents’ relentless worrying. But Emmy’s parents can’t seem to let her
grow up—not since the day Oliver disappeared.

Oliver needs a moment to figure out his heart.

He’d
thought, all these years, that his dad was the good guy. He never knew
that it was his father who kidnapped him and kept him on the run.
Discovering it, and finding himself returned to his old hometown, all at
once, has his heart racing and his thoughts swirling.

Emmy and
Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before
their futures were ripped apart. In Emmy’s soul, despite the space and
time between them, their connection has never been severed. But is their
story still written in the stars? Or are their hearts like the pieces
of two different puzzles—impossible to fit together?

Readers who
love Sarah Dessen will tear through these pages with hearts in throats
as Emmy and Oliver struggle to face the messy, confusing consequences of
Oliver’s father’s crime. Full of romance, coming-of-age emotion, and
heartache, these two equally compelling characters create an
unforgettable story.

Ooooooh, my heart. Emmy & Oliver was such a cute book that
made me hurt in all the best ways. You may have noticed, but I don't
read a whole lot of contemporary. No particular reason, but a lot of the
stuff I see either seems really superficial or way too hardcore and
depressing for me. And the stuff that interests me, I just never get
around to because I get distracted. But I couldn't wait to get into this
one, and when I did, I finished it all in one go. (Besides a half
interlude for a shower, because sometimes we need to do that.)

Emmy
and Oliver have been best friends and neighbors since birth. Until, of
course, Oliver's father takes him - and doesn't come back. And suddenly
Emmy is without a best friend, her parents turn into momzilla and
dadzilla, and his mother is left in a constant state of frenzy and
tears. Fast forward to Emmy's last year and high school, and Oliver
reappears - only now, his mom has remarried, he was two siblings, and
he's stuck a year behind in school. He's spent his life thinking his mom
was the bad guy, but now he's being told that the man who raised him
and took care of him was lying the entire time. It was heartbreaking.

"After
a while, though, after years passed and pictures changed and false tips
fell through, it started to feel like the beacon wasn't for him
anymore. It was for those of us left behind, something to cling to when
you realized that scary things could happen, that villains didn't only
exist in books, that Oliver might never come home. Until one day, he
did."

Thankfully,
not heartbreaking in the way that left me a snotty and sobbing mess.
I'm personally not one of those people who loves to read books that make
me feel miserable. But Emmy & Oliver tugged at my heart in all the right ways.

Emmy
has lived the past ten years abiding by her parent's rules while
surfing in secret. She worries about college and her parents discovering
her secret (and all the lying she's been doing) and even freaks out a
little when she simply makes a silly face at Oliver when she finally
sees him again. I found Emmy so relatable and such a lovely narrator. And the addition of her surfing was so well done. You could really feel how important it was to her. (And to be honest, when characters don't have some kind of hobby I don't know what to do with myself.)

And
of course, I couldn't help but feel for Oliver, being thrown into this
completely unfamiliar life that was supposed to be his all along. He
felt like such a real character. Benway really knows how to write teenagers and get you invested in them.

Faye described Emmy & Oliver as
quiet and peaceful, and I completely agree. Sure, it gets sad. But not
that bone aching sad that usually makes me stop reading because I'm too
depressed. Emmy & Oliver portrays these teenagers lives so
accurately, and it's focused on friendships and relationships and how
Oliver's kidnapping impacted so many other people. On how Oliver himself
needs to heal, too. There's no silly little misunderstandings that
leave them distraught for half the book while we all roll our eyes. I
was rooting for both of these characters - both separately and together -
the entire time.

The relationship and romance between
Emmy and Oliver was adorable, plain and simple. I want to squeeze them
in the tightest hug ever. They're both so supportive of each other, and
Emmy really tries to understand the position Oliver is in (and of
course, she struggles with it).

Overall: As usual, I feel like I failed to get my point across. Emmy & Oliver is
cute and fluffy while still being filled with more grounded and
relatable moments. This is a must-read for contemporary fans and even
for those of us who are more fantasy prone. I think it has a very
important overall message: it's okay to feel what you feel. Life is
effed up, and that's okay. 4.5 stars.

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WELCOME

ZOEY

Zoey's life revolves around monkeys and college but she is also fond of YA (and sometimes NA) books. Especially ones with kissing and cats. Forever favorites include THE RAVEN CYCLE and ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS. Feel free to contact her at uncreativelyzoey@gmail.com!